An experience zone for China's Oppo smartphones at a TechOne store in Ha Noi. Oppo is competing with Samsung in middle- and low- cost Android smartphone segment. — Photo news.zing.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Middle- and low-cost Android smartphone segment has been witnessing stiff competition between two manufacturers, South Korea's Samsung and China's Oppo.

According to Zing online newspaper, a research report of International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that in the first quarter of this year, Samsung gained a market share of 35.2 per cent, while Oppo bagged 10.4 per cent. This means, out of 10 smartphones in Viet Nam, three are of Samsung and one is of Oppo.

The statistics also indicate that Samsung, Microsoft, and Oppo are at the top of the Vietnamese smartphone market. Samsung and Oppo dominate half of the market for Android operating system alone.

A report by research company GfK shows that by February 2015, Samsung took over 18.9 per cent of the market share, which saw a 20.1 per cent decline compared with the same period last year. Meanwhile, Oppo grew 2.5 times, from 2.8 per cent to 7.9 per cent, in one year.

In the first quarter of the year, Samsung decreased the prices of various smartphones such as its lower-priced Galaxy V and Galaxy Core Prime and middle-priced Galaxy E. At the same time, Oppo focused on new products for young people and got celebrities to promote their smartphones. These resulted in an increasing sale of its Joy and Neo 3, and the Chinese manufacturer is currently pouring money into promoting Neo 5 and R5 to raise the sales of the two smartphone models in the coming months.

The two companies are also competing to dominate the retail market share. Earlier, Samsung and Nokia brands filled stores, but now, Oppo smartphones are gradually replacing them. Its products can also be found in small stores in provinces and towns across the country.

IDC Vietnam's representative Vo Le Tam Thanh said that the South Korean firm is extending the gap with Oppo in terms of market share. He noted that in terms of brands, Samsung has many more advantages over Oppo because it has been the top manufacturer in the first quarter of the year, with 24.6 per cent of the global market share.

Oppo is said to be present in cities and provinces, but Samsung has long business experiences and has established a relationship with retailers in Viet Nam, he added.

"The market is always changing because of the entry of many brands. Therefore, a long-term strategy is needed to survive competition. It is not true that a company that leads a market cannot be beaten by a new firm," he observed.

Apart from Samsung and Oppo, several other brands have also boosted their advertising and sales activities. Taiwan's Asus has been promoting its Zenfone 2, while Sony has launched a series of products such as Xperia M4 Aqua and Xperia C4. The sales of Microsoft's Windows Phone, including Lumia 640 and Lumia 640 XL, have also shown positive signs. — VNS